Читать книгу Walking in the Dordogne. 35 walking routes in the Dordogne - Sarlat, Bergerac, Lalinde and Souillac онлайн

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The river at Bergerac is wide and gentle, flowing lazily through the town, its waters now the home of ducks, swans and canoeists. The first walk in this guide is a delightfully easy stroll along its banks, starting at the oldest port of Cale de l’Alba and passing the Vieux Port to end at the modern dam. This is the way to see the river at its best, for the path is quiet and peaceful, with no cars and only a few dog walkers to share it with.

Bergerac is also renowned as a wine-growing area, the climate here being warmer and drier than north of the river. Some of the most prestigious vineyards surround the château of Monbazillac immediately to the south, where there is an easy walk through the vineyards. This is where the sweet white Monbazillac wine is produced, and if you visit the château afterwards, there is free wine tasting with a choice of all the region’s vintages.

The rest of the walks in this section lie mostly to the south of Bergerac, where there are countless picturesque towns and villages, many with distinctive churches topped by a high wall with three bells. The walks around the sleepy little villages of Flaugeac, Monestier, Conne-de-Labarde and St-Aubin are through open meadowland past wide fields of wheat and barley, in and out of woodland and over rivulets and streams, through hamlets where time seems to have stood still. The countryside here is tranquil and pastoral, and you will find old windmills and water mills once used to grind the corn, and elaborate dovecotes, the birds being bred for meat and their droppings used for fertiliser.